Cabins and Companions
by mamageek
Summary: Cabin!Fic. Post-Continuum sometime, no spoilers. Sam and Jack are spending some time at the cabin while Sam has leave, and she has an idea. Pure and total fluff.


Notes: I own nothing. Stargate and MGM own Stargate and all characters. I'm just playing in the sandbox.

* * *

Sam sat down on the blanket, rotating her body to stretch her legs behind her as she lay on her stomach. Adjusting her sunglasses, she opened her book and began to read. She'd only been at it a few minutes when she heard a voice behind her.

"Carter, what is that monster you're reading?" Sam grinned and held up her book. He usually called her Sam now, but when he teased her about something he considered geeky he always called her Carter.

"Interdisciplinary applications of antiproton propulsion theory?" Jack blinked. "First of all, I only grabbed about half of those words. Second of all, interdisciplinary? Who the hell cares about...the rest of it...other than, well, you?" Sam set her book to the side and sat up, adjusting the hem of her blue tank top and smiling.

"Lots of people, amazingly enough. I've read this one before, though. Just a bit of light reading."

"Light…" Jack's voice trailed off and he shook his head. "Well, don't let me stop ya." Sam grinned.

"I was just waiting for you," she said. "We were going to go walking, remember?" She'd been eager to explore some of the trails around the cabin.

"Oh, yeah," Jack said. Sam jumped up and brushed lightly past him, heading in the direction of one of the trails they'd talked about walking. Jack watched her for a minute, admiring her shorts-clad figure before taking a few quick steps to catch up to her and wrapping an arm around her waist from behind.

"Or, you know, we could always stay here," he whispered flirtatiously in her ear as he pulled her against him. Sam turned her head and kissed him briefly.

"No." She was obviously trying to sound stern, but she couldn't hold her serious face and grinned. "Later. I've only got three days left of leave and we still haven't made it past the yard." She wiggled out of his arms and took his hand. "We aren't all living in the lap of retirement luxury, you know." Jack rolled his eyes as they headed into the trail.

"We should get a dog." Sam's voice broke the silence. "Adopt a puppy or something. It'd be nice to have a dog to walk with. Now that we don't have to worry about both of us suddenly being gone for an indeterminate time period, it's totally doable." Jack looked at her in surprise.

"Really? You haven't seemed all that interested in getting a dog before."

"Well, it wasn't really feasible, what with you in Washington most of the time and me having to go away on missions. You know I've always liked dogs."

"Yeah, I guess so. So you want to adopt one?" Jack asked.

"Definitely a rescue dog, yeah. " Sam nodded.

"You want to look online tonight, see what the SPCA has?" Sam's face split into a wide grin.

"Yeah?" she asked.

"Might as well while you're still on leave. Won't be open today but we can look online and then go in tomorrow, if you want." Sam squeezed his hand and kept walking, happy that he was as excited about the prospect of the new family member as she was.

"What about that one?" Jack asked her, pointing at the laptop screen as he leaned over her shoulder.

"Jack, neither one of us wants a chiahuahua."

"Oh, yeah. Good point." Sam made a few more clicks to narrow the search results down.

"Okay, now it's only going to show us bigger dogs." They'd both expressed a preference for larger dog breeds. As they scrolled through the list, Sam made meticulous notes of the ones they were interested in looking at the next day.

"Carter, we're looking at dogs. Not studying for a test." Jack teased.

"I just want to make sure we remember exactly which ones we were interested in!" Sam protested, sticking out her lower lip in a mock pout. Jack bent down and kissed her.

"You were saying?" He smirked before walking in the direction of the bedroom. Sam clicked a few more buttons before shutting the laptop with a firm click and following him.

Sam woke up the next morning to find Jack's arms still wrapped securely around her. Sam looked over at the clock and was shocked by the time. Jack never slept this late. She wiggled around in his embrace until she was facing him and stroked his cheek lightly.

"Hey, Jack…" she said softly. He mumbled incoherently and shook his head. "Jack, it's nine thirty. Are you okay?" His eyes shot open.

"Nine…" he looked at the clock. "Why in the hell did I sleep this late?" he grumbled.

"I dunno. You feeling okay?" Sam asked.

"Yeah…sorry for snapping." He tightened his grip around her again.

"Don't worry about it," she said, tipping her head up to kiss him lightly. "You want coffee?"

"Yeah. Thanks." Sam smiled and slipped out of his arms, sticking her feet into her slippers before moving to the kitchen to make coffee.

The coffee maker had just buzzed when Jack entered the kitchen, hair damp and rumpled from the shower.

"Feel better?" Sam asked, handing him a steaming mug.

"Yeah. Still not sure how I slept so late. Thanks, Sam."

"Well, we were up…late….last night." Sam smirked at him, and he grinned.

"Very true." He sipped his coffee before continuing. "So, when do you want to head to the shelter?" he asked.

"Pretty soon," she said. "I've got to shower and get dressed, but then I'll be ready."

"Did ya eat something?" Jack asked. He knew Sam tended to forget about mundane things like eating when she was excited about something.

"Yeah, I promise. I had some toast while you were in the shower."

"Good girl." He grinned at her as she swatted his arm lightly on her way past him to the bedroom.

"And this is Skathi," the SPCA volunteer said as they brought Sam and Jack to the last cage. "She's a husky-lab cross, so she's a pretty big girl, but she's two so she probably won't get much bigger than she is now. She'll fill out a little more, but not too much. She's already fixed and she's up to date on her shots." The young woman opened up the cage and Skathi tentatively poked out her nose.

"Hey there, pretty girl," Sam said, crouching as she offered her hand cautiously to the golden dog to sniff. It wasn't long before she felt a tentative lick to her palm. "Oh, I'm okay, huh? You want to come out and say hello?" she asked.

"Sam, the dog can't-" Jack started, cutting himself off abruptly when Skathi came out of her cage and began to sniff Sam more intently.

"Awww, don't listen to him. He doesn't know what he's talking about. You can understand me, can't you Skathi?" Sam said to the dog, patting her gently on her head and back. Skathi looked up at Sam and began to lick her face in earnest. Sam laughed. "Jack, I think our decision's been made for us." They'd liked several of the other dogs, but none of them had warmed to them quite so well. Jack sat on the bench Sam was kneeling in front of and extended his hand to the dog, who sniffed him cursorily and gave him a quick lick before going back to sit in front of Sam, who looked over at Jack with hope in her eyes.

"Yeah, alright. " Jack's voice was casual, but his voice betrayed him. He couldn't resist Sam when she looked this happy, and anything he could do to prolong her happiness was worth it. Besides-the dog was sweet. "You two get to know each other. I'll go fill out the paperwork, okay?" Sam nodded, her eyes not leaving her new companion.

After a brief stop at the pet store to pick up a few necessities, Sam, Jack, and Skathi arrived back at the cabin. Sam opened the back door of the car and clipped Skathi's leash to her new collar.

"Come on out, sweetheart. Let's go look around." She walked the dog to the other side of the car, where Jack was stepping out. "Do you mind bringing this stuff in?" she asked, her blue eyes widening. "I want to take Skathi around a little, get her acquainted with the area."

"Go ahead," Jack said, an obliging smile on his face. "I got this stuff."

Sam grinned. "Thanks, Jack." She raised the hand that wasn't holding the very excited Skathi's leash and rest it on his cheek before leaning up to kiss him.

"Anything for you, Sam. You know that."  
"I know." Sam turned to walk the excited dog around and show her the sights. Jack watched them walk away with an uncontrollable smile on his face.


End file.
